The coaching at this club has been an absolute joke since the great man left. Absolute joke and it continues to this day. Don't think I've ever seen a big club have a period like this especially with great financial strength.
Lukaku: Aguero successor
- Thread starter meamth
- Start date
Specifically which element of coaching can they improve on?
Pressing, attacking movements in terms of combinations, possesion play, set pieces etc.
Are you being serious??
This is what i meant by lowering their expectations when it comes to Lukaku.
Any other player wouldn't even get a mention yet Lukaku does
This is the 2nd Belgium goal btw
Is this what they call nowadays a pre-pre assist?
Some of you need a reality check when it comes to Lukaku
This was basically a dead ball which Lukaku transformed into an actual organized attack. Not surprised though, I bet you were waiting for him to lose the ball while dribbling past those players to make fun of him.
On reflection that was some class hold-up play 
We don't miss him though, he was truly shocking at times.
We don't miss him though, he was truly shocking at times.
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On reflection that was some class hold-up play
We don't miss him though and he was truly shocking at times.
We badly miss him since we do not have a world class striker now. Cavani is good, but not world class level anymore.
Hopefully we can add top talent this summer.
I’m not saying that we will sign him but I’d have in rather than Kane or Haaland because, as his international stats set against his club stats clearly demonstrate, he’s as good as or better than Kane if he’s played to his strengths, and Haaland is this years super prospect based mainly on his success in Germany - but Werner posted better stats in Germany and just think how many young wonder kids fall by the wayside eh?
Not as if Belgium are a successful team. The issue with playing to Lukaku strengths is that it can take away from the rest of your team play. Kane just recorded the most goals AND assists as he was playing to support Son. But go off. I look forward to you having Rom as an Aguero replacement
Belgium’s lack of success is certainly not down to Lukaku - Belgium’s a tiny little nation (about one sixth of the UK’s population) so doesn’t have a massive pool of professional footballers to draw from, but check his stats if you can be bothered to learn a bit - he’s been scoring international goals for fun since 2016 and wasn’t too bad at it previous to that.
That’s 5 solid years of being absolutely awesome at an international level and not even the slightest hint of flat track bully in there. Meanwhile, at club level he’s been meh under managers who don’t know how to get the best out of their players and awesome under managers who are clued up.
Played under a manager who can get the best out of his players he’s the bees knees so, yes, I’d happily have him as Aguero’s replacement.
However, I must emphasise that I‘m not aware of anything tangible that says that we’ll sign him.
You do realise a lot of people here had to suffer watching him for the most part?
I can't think of many strikers who would be more unsuitable for Pep.
Please pardon my bluntness but, the reason you suffered watching him (and you have my empathy) was because your management didn’t have an effin’ clue as to how to get a tune out of him.
But look at him go under a manager who can manager players well.
I agree with you that he doesn’t stand out as a Pep type player.
But, then again, neither do Kane or Haaland who are both shite at pressing from the front but seem to be repeatedly linked to City.
Having said that he did make good use of Lewandowski at BM didn’t he?
My thought is that if we’re going to get a big lump of a striker then Lukaku is proven in the PL, he’s as hard as nails, suffers less injuries than Kane and would also be cheaper and easier to land.
IMO Haaland is a risk because he has that fat tW@7 as his agent, has his father begging bungs and a circus following him round (he did that vomit inducing tour of the big clubs with Raiola etc.), he would demand a fee and wages totally out of kilter with his proven worth.
Yes, he might turn out to be the next Ronald but he could also be just another Andy Carroll (though I think he’ll end up somewhere in the middle).
He’s unproven in the PL and his stats in the BL are great but not as good as Werner’s were (and Werner, while a great player, hasn’t come in and really put his stamp on the PL has he?).
Anyhow, it’s academic for now but an interesting topic to chew the fat on.
In short; I can understand Utd supporters having a downer on Lukaku, but IMO he was just badly managed by a club that oozes talent but constantly fails to manage it well.
As example (going of at a tangent here, sorry) look at how Lukaku has fared at Inter. Look at how his international goals remained constant while his goals dried up at Utd, look at Chris Smalling at Roma, look at Lingard (yes, Beanz) has absolutely ripped it up at West Ham?
Players who struggle under the misuse at Utd go on to resurrect their careers after they leave.
At a further tangent; I actually think that Ole will get it sussed given time. He’s there or thereabouts but has another rung or two to climb.
He can be very astute at times (he’s beaten Pep so many times that he’s got him sat on his mantelpiece) but he‘s still learning so he naturally drops a fair few clangers.
What’s abundantly clear is that, as yet, he never gets the best out of his players.
In fact you’ll know yourself that your truly outstanding performances are generally where Ole’s tactics leave you a goal or two down, the plan then gets thrown out of the window and the incredibly talented players that you have then freestyle to take you to blistering come back victories.
I’m a football supporter so I like watching rip roaring football and your lads can play that when Ole lets go of the reigns - just image how good they‘ll be when he gets to jockeying them along properly.
By no means perfect with his back to goal yet (who is?) but he has improved so much in the last couple of years. Top class striker!
Great goal.
Two great finishes. Especially the one that was disallowed showed his improved composure.
Second one took a deflection.
Lukaku was useless for us don’t care what anyone says. I don’t rate him as a footballer but I rate him as a goal scorer make of that what you will.
Are you serious?
Bundesliga stats:
Werner: 15.604 minutes, 91 goals -> 171 minutes per goal.
Haaland: 3.473 minutes, 40 goals -> 87 minutes per goal.
Even if you only take Werner's last season (which is an anomaly all things considered with him scoring a lot of goals early on), Haaland's stats are still significantly better.
Champions League stats:
Werner: 1.724 minutes, 11 goals - > 157 minutes per goal.
Haaland: 1.260 minutes, 20 goals -> 63 minutes per goal.
The two of them aren't even close. Comparing him to Carroll is even more ridiculous since Haaland already has almost 50% more carreer goals at 20 years old. There is never a 100 % bet in football, but Haaland is probably as close as one can be.
That being said, I can't see Pep going all in on Haaland. Doesn't seem like the kind of player he'd fall head over heels for and Haaland will want to go to a club where he's the star. Lukaku seems more likely.
I thought he was an interesting player to watch develop at Everton.
I still wonder whose bright idea it was to have him pack on so many pounds upon moving to Manchester. And then, to pack on even more come the second season.
By then, he looked fat and clumsy and his pace was nonexistent.
He just became Mr. Pointy.
First thing I noticed when he went to Inter was that he'd noticeably slimmed down again, and he's improved season after season.
His numbers are very, very good. When someone dumps out the numbers he does, it's hard not to say he's not amongst the world's best.
I still wonder whose bright idea it was to have him pack on so many pounds upon moving to Manchester. And then, to pack on even more come the second season.
By then, he looked fat and clumsy and his pace was nonexistent.
He just became Mr. Pointy.
First thing I noticed when he went to Inter was that he'd noticeably slimmed down again, and he's improved season after season.
His numbers are very, very good. When someone dumps out the numbers he does, it's hard not to say he's not amongst the world's best.
Cause the first conte did was make him lose that weight. The fact we can all see the noticeable change in his physique shows how ridiculous it was he was ever allowed to get that big in the first place. He's still strong now despite being far leaner
Having lived in Italy for the past two weeks, I can safely say that Italian food is the best in Europe and definitely a lot healthier than English food. I am sure that plays a part in Lukaku slimming down. The culture here is also a lot more chilled than England where the media there is so toxic and add on top of the playing for Man Utd pressure with the whole ABU brigade, it's hard to give your best when everyone is against you, calling you a donkey. In a nutshell, he is doing better in Italy and always perform for Belgium because he is respected and loved there.
I doubt Pep wants a player who is technically limited like Lukaku
He’s a monster at times
He’s got a serious chip on his shoulder.
Lukaku taking the bait. He can control a ball, just very badly.
dis grown ass man has such thin skin. What a tool.
Wasn't it Jose who told him to put on more weight? I'm probably misremembering but it was either that or someone told him to bulk up for the World Cup. Ridiculous really. He's a really good striker even with all his flaws.
I like Lukaku, he's always entertaining, for the right or wrong reasons
delighted for him.
Some people here are very selective when it comes to Lukaku. He was crap for us but he's slimmed down and got a lot better. Case in point - that gif above when he had a run just after that that put Carrasco through on goal.
Brilliant post. City should definitely snap him up. That would be amazing.
I did not read past the first sentence
Bad control there, but believe the poster you replied to was referring to another incident deep into stoppage time, when Belgium had a potential 2 on 1 and Lukaku perplexingly laid the ball off to a trailer on the other side rather than the runner on his right who was about to break through on goal, and put too much weight on the pass in any case.
Good performance without scoring.
Belgium can go all the way, but I think they need KDB back to win it.
Belgium can go all the way, but I think they need KDB back to win it.
Yeah, every time he does something bad it's proof that he's a crap player, and every time he does something good it's a fluke. Even though the latter cases far outweigh the former.
He was okay today. Some incredible hold-up play where he had the Portuguese players in his pocket but too many poor touches with the ball at his feet. Wasteful in the last 20.
Why?
Thought it was a typical Lulaku performance against a good side.
He'll do something good (hold the ball up well or embark on a decent, pressure relieving run), but then undo it with a dodgy touch or some clumsy footwork.
He gets away with it in easy games and can bully his way to goals. But against proper defenders his technique just isn't good enough to hurt them.